Of Loss and Laundry
by Rabiscar
Summary: JP/LE The prefects' bathroom is the perfect location for long baths, existential crises, lovers' trysts, and. . .doing laundry?


Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JK Rowling

James ran down the corridor and slid to a stop three doors down from Boris the Bewildered.  
"Lily?" He shouted and banged on the door. "Lily, I know you're in there."  
"Password?" Boris asked.  
"Oh shut up, I don't need a password."  
"You most certainly do, you're not a prefect, or Head Boy, or quidditch cap-"  
"LILY" James bellowed.  
The door flew open and suddenly there was a flurry of red hair in his face and a hand tugging on his shirt.  
"Would you shut up, you'll wake the whole castle," she said and spun around to slam the door behind them.  
"well you should have let me in the first time I knocked"  
"James, it's a _bathroom. _I do not have to let you in when you knock, that's kind of the point, that's why the door locks at all. So that I can keep you out while I'm using the toilet."  
"But you haven't been using the toilet, Moony says you've been holed up in here for ages."  
"Maybe I had explosive diarrhea," she said as she walked briskly ahead of him.  
"Did you?" he asked and scratched his head.  
"No."  
They rounded the corner to see the pool length bath tub filled with water. The edge of the tub had soaking wet jumpers and socks and shirts and pants spread out across the tiles. All of the wet clothes were sudsy and filmed over with soap.  
"Lily, what in Merlin's name are you doing?"  
"Laundry," she said and grabbed a handful of wet t-shirts from the floor.  
"Okay, that sounds reasonable."  
"Thank you."  
"Except its 2 AM and you're washing clothes by hand which not even _muggles _do anymore and you could just use your wand or better yet hand them off to the house elves to wash."  
"Ya, well I don't want to use my wand or the house eves alright? And clearly muggles _do _still wash by hand because I am muggle born and I'm washing by hand right now."  
"Lily-" he started to say.  
"James," she scowled at him and dunked the t-shirts in the tub.  
"You're washing them twice?" He asked in exasperation.  
"I'm _rinsing _them," she huffed. "Gobstones, can't you see they're covered in bubbles? Do you want me to wear soapy clothing and get a rash? You of all people should _know_ I have sensitive skin-"  
"I said I was sorry about the frogspawn, alright? How'd I know you'd break out in hives like that?"  
"Why don't you just err on the side of caution next time and refrain from swapping out people's soap with tadpoles?"  
"Merlin's pants- IT WAS A JOKE LILY, IT'S A PRODUCT FROM A JOKE SHOP."  
"Shhhh!" she hissed at him. "Would you lower your voice? I don't want a professor to walk in here and ask me why I'm sharing a toilet with you."  
"Why _are_ you sharing a toilet with me?  
She wrung out a t-shirt and shot him another scowl.  
"What, I'm not allowed to share a toilet with you now?" She rolled her eyes.  
"Well, actually, no, you're not," he scrunched up his face. "You just said you wouldn't want to get caught by a profess-"  
"Shut up, Potter, I'm working here," she gestured to the clothes all over the floor before grabbing a coil of rope from the counter and tying it between two towel hooks across the room.  
"Are you making a-"  
"Clothes line, yes," she grunted and pulled the last knot tight.  
"Are you sure there's nothing you want to talk about?"  
She turned around from her makeshift clothes line to face him. His hands were in his pockets and he was staring at her pointedly. She arched an eyebrow and he blinked.  
"No," she shook her head and walked a few steps to kneel down next to the tub. "There's nothing I want to talk about."  
"Alright," he sighed and rolled up his sleeves.  
"What are you doing?"  
"I'm helping you. I'm uh- rinsing," he said and gingerly picked up a sopping wet bra.  
"Potter, put that _down._"  
"Do the elves know to put these through the gentle cycle or do you usually hand wash them?"  
"James!"  
"I'm just curious!" he dunked it in the water and wrung it out. "I'm not being a creep, I'm just wondering about the logistics!"  
"The elves take care of it."  
"Hmm," he muttered. "So weird that the house elves know everyone's bra size," he peered at the tag carefully.  
"Okay, now you're definitely being a creep."  
"Sorry."  
He dunked a couple more shirts in the water and swished them around, making bubble trails.  
"I can do it," Lily said. "You don't have to wash those, I'll get them."  
"No, I want to do them, I've never washed clothes by hand before."  
"James-"  
"Just shut up, Lily, I'm washing your stupid clothes and I'm not leaving," he furrowed his eyebrows and plopped a pair of trousers into the water with a splash.  
"I wasn't going to ask you to leave," Lily reddened and ducked her head to fish her cardigan out of the tub.  
"Well, good, cause I wouldn't have listened anyway."  
"Good."  
"_Fine_."  
Lily looked up from the socks she was rinsing to wrinkle her nose at James.  
"What?" he asked.  
"Nothing," she shook her head and smiled down at her socks.

After several minutes of silent laundering, Lily straightened up to look at James.  
"I know you know," she said and placed her hands on her hips.  
"Hm?" he asked and turned away from the clothesline.  
"I know you _know_," she repeated and pursed her lips.  
James' eyes tracked over her face, flicking from her eyes to her mouth and back.  
"I do," he confessed with a nod. "I don't know what to say, Lily, I'm sorry."  
Lily shrugged and looked away from him.  
"Just, ah, thanks for coming down here," she sniffed and stared at the floor. "Thanks for doing this."  
James took a step towards her and swung his arms out like he wanted to reach for her.  
"I want to- I want to say something comforting or something but I can't think of anything. It just sucks and I can't change it, I can't make it better for you," he pushed one hand through his hair and shoved the other in his pocket. "I can just tell you that it sucks but it eventually sucks less and you're able to deal with it."  
"Ya I hope so," she said, "cus I'm not doing a great job of dealing with it at the moment," she waved a hand at the clothesline.  
"You're doing well enough. When my dad—well, when shit happened to me—I went out to the garden shed and broke my brand new broomstick clean in two so uh- I figure everyone copes differently," he rubbed the back of his neck.  
Lily nodded and jerked her head round to look from the suds in the tub to the puddles on the floor to the clothes hanging on the line. "Well at least I'm doing something somewhat productive, right?"  
"Hey, as long as you're not hurting anyone, I think you're at license to do whatever you want right now," James replied. "But I gotta ask, why laundry?"  
"I don't know," Lily sighed. "It's something my mum does—or did, I mean. We didn't have a lot of money when I was growing up so all my dad's button downs were from the thrift store and sometimes they'd be a little discoloured around the collar. My mum would scrub them down in the bathroom sink and I'd go sit on the counter and moan about how bored I was til mum told me she'd give me some cleaning to do. Then I'd run out in the garden and harass Petunia. I don't know," she huffed. "I'm not going home for the funeral til tomorrow and I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep and I needed to keep myself busy so here I am," she shrugged.  
"Alright," James nodded. "Well its only 3 AM, why don't we clean this all up and then go back to the Common Room and play chess or head down to the kitchens and nick some cookies?" James asked.  
"What? Why?" Lily demanded.  
"Because," James scratched his head, "I can't do anything to make this any better but I _can_ keep you busy til you go home tomorrow. That much is easy."  
Lily stared at him with a slight frown on her face.  
"What?" James asked when she didn't say anything.  
She continued to stare and then seemed to stir herself awake.  
"Will you come with me tomorrow?" she blurted out.  
"What?"  
"Come to the funeral," Lily commanded. "Sorry," she said after a beat. "You don't have to come, that's crazy to ask of you," she turned back towards her laundry and scooped up a pair of trousers.  
"I'll come," James said.  
"Really?" Lily looked up in surprise.  
"Course I will," James nodded, his mouth fixed in a line.  
"Thank you." 


End file.
